Recently, the Chinese Table Tennis Association officially announced the selection plan for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which is a major blow to the national team star Zhou Qihao - because according to the announcement on March 7, he has basically no hope of participating in the Asian Games, and if he wants to play, he can only wait for the guaranteed quota.
So here's the question:
Last year, Zhou Qihao participated in the World Table Tennis Championships by escorting, and as a result, he lost the foreign war in the second round, so will Liu Guoliang and the coaching staff give him a chance this year?
Saying that Zhou Qihao has basically failed to be elected to the Asian Games is by no means nonsense, let's take a look at the selection criteria announced by the Table Tennis Association, mainly the following 3 points:
The first is the singles champion of the WTT Grand Slam in March; the second is the top three athletes in the world during the 14th week of 2022 (April 4-10, 2022) (the highest ranking can participate in singles, and if it is repeated with the Grand Slam singles champion, the second is selected); the third is the world's highest-ranked athlete born after January 1, 1999, in the above time period.
So what is the situation of Zhou Qihao now?
First of all, he has lost the WTT Grand Slam and has not participated at all, so of course it is impossible to be selected for the Asian Games by winning the singles title of this event.
Secondly, Zhou Qihao is currently ranked only 99th in the world, and no matter how hard he tries, he will not be able to become the top three players in the team from April 4 to 10.
Finally, Zhou Qihao, who was born in 1997, is not satisfied with the national table tennis policy of tilting for young players - as an athlete born in the same year as Fan Zhendong, Zhou Qihao's rise is indeed far less than that of his teammate.
Obviously, Zhou Qihao was definitely defeated in the Asian Games singles first, because the men's team only had a total of 2 places, all of which were given to the WTT Grand Slam champion and the world's highest ranking athlete, and Zhou Qihao had nothing to do with it.
So will he still have a chance to participate in the Asian Games?
The answer is yes, but very difficult.
The first is the team event, which is supplemented by the documents of the Table Tennis Association, that is, once there are less than 5 male and female athletes selected according to the above conditions, they will be "collectively studied and discussed by the male and female coaching teams of the national team".
The second is the doubles event, the selection criteria are "based on the confirmed team and singles participation list, combined with the technical and tactical characteristics and expertise of the relevant athletes and comprehensive consideration of physical fitness, the coaching team will nominate the doubles pairing recommendation list".
In other words, Zhou Qihao can only take the road of "guarantee" to participate in this year's Asian Games, so what is the probability of this?
As we all know, Zhou Qihao is mainly known for his performance in the civil war in recent years, but the results of the foreign war are very unsatisfactory, so he is criticized by fans and friends, and the Asian Games is precisely an important foreign war for national table tennis in 2022, will Liu Guoliang and the coaching staff rest assured that he will participate?
In addition, the Asian Games has always been a place to exercise young players, but Zhou Qihao is already a 25-year-old "Mesozoic" player, is the National Table Tennis Association willing to give him resources?
What's more, last year's more important World Table Tennis Championships let Zhou Qihao participate, and as a result, he failed to play a good result, what is the reason for this Asian Games?
At present, it seems that Zhou Qihao's failure to be elected to the Asian Games is already a high probability event, but we must not forget the fact that the world can continuously defeat Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin and other national table tennis main athletes in one year, and its technology is absolutely excellent, and Zhou Qihao has done it.
Perhaps, Zhou Qihao's career is only left to break through the last layer of window paper, so give a few more chances to do it?
Therefore, some people oppose letting Zhou Qihao participate in the Asian Games, and some people support it, so what do you think about this? Feel free to leave a comment and write your own opinion!